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Why do people think Catholics worship Mary?

So in our homeschool co-op today, we were talking about Brazil and how 75% of the inhabitants are Catholic. The class was 1-3 graders, and one of the kids said that Catholics were bad. I said that wasn't true and asked why she thought that. Another kid piped in with "because they worship Mary".

That is not the first time I have heard that claim, and I am curious to know why that assumption is made. So, why?

I dont think children understand the difference between worship and pray to... in the catholic religion they DO pray to mary... hense, "hail mary"s...

by Anonymous 9
on Mar. 22, 2013 at 6:06 PM

My friend and I talk about stuff like this. Shes a catholic while I have the pentecostal beliefs. She said have I ever went to my mom and told her to ask my dad something for me? I said no...I usually just go straight to my dad. Which is what I believe. I believe we can just talk to Jesus&God ourselves. I dont believe we need to ask mary for anything or go to a priest for confession. I can confess to God.

In this sense it means "praise". And if sometime does ask their friends to pray for them, they likely don't believe that their friend has more influence than they do. It is in addition to their own prayers, not instead of them. You know?

Quoting mommyrustina:

Saying "Hail Mary" doesn't mean worship her, though; the "Hail" is more like a happy hello, I do believe the other translation is "rejoice".

Quoting annelauer:

I don't know about you, but I don't "hail" my friends and family or have rosaries in their honor. I don't have a problem with catholics worshipping Mary. I've seen articles online explaining why they do. (She must've been a pretty cool chick for Jesus to pick get as his mother and she symbolizes the "mother" of everyone or whatever.) I think it's pretty hard to deny that they do though...

Quoting mommyrustina:

I am not the most devout Catholic, but the way I have understood it is that it is more like asking Mary to pray for us. It is no different than asking friends and family to pray for someone.

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